Page 51 of Her Forbidden Shifters
In between hits, I glanced at Jacob, who was barely able to hold his own against three overly powerful foes. Then he launched himself down the alleyway, hopping onto a metal garbage can and leaping to a near by fire escape on the other side of the alley.
After another couple of hits from the first guy facing off with me, I spotted Jacob pulling out his phone.
There was one thing that stuck out to me. My last run-in with these assholes left me drained and barely clinging to consciousness. But this time? This time, my power wasn’t draining from me. My body filled with warmth versus cold and I felt stronger with each hit.
That was weird. But I was going with it.
I dug deep into my magic, calling it forward. Power filled my wrist and I focused and concentrated everything in me on getting my magic through. I clung to the arms holding me in up on my feet and struggled to get out the tiniest bit of magic.
After several seconds, a bright spark of purple left my fingertips, hitting the two assholes holding onto me. They startled and released me, but it gave me the boost I needed to keep trying.
But my stunt did little to deter the monsters trying to kill me. They came right back. And I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt they were delivering a message to me. Back off or else.
Part of me worried about the consequences me fighting back would have on Avery. But that wasn’t going to stop me from trying to find her. The sooner I could get free of these monsters, the better.
I dug deep into my magic again, pulling off a stronger spark than the last.
I breathed a sigh of relief and sent a small thank you to the goddess for her help. Because of her, I was going to finish this fight stronger than before.
Sure, I was hurt, but not nearly as bad as I was before. And that was very encouraging. With the dampener they were using no longer working as effectively, I had their undivided attention. I kicked the guy to my right and elbowed the guy to my left. Then I took a couple of steps forward and jumped into the air, sending my foot into the third guy’s nose. He covered his face and stumbled backward as I landed on the ground in time to face off the other two for another round.
I started dodging more of their hits and landing a few more of my own. With each breath and each second that ticked by, I was one step closer to defeating these bozos.
I glanced toward Jacob, the figures had reached him, and he was fighting from the fire escape. Urgency to get this fight over and help him out overwhelmed me. I needed to get to him before something horrible happened.
20
NOAH
Waiting was always the hardest part when things were up in the air. Even more so when the same air was stuffy and still and hard to breathe.
Based off of Liam’s continued silence, our little chat was over. He had stated he needed some peace and quiet to work out whatever puzzle he was facing in his head. Though I didn’t find it really that hard to guess what the puzzle he was figuring out was. He was trying to build connections in the case in hopes he could help find my sister. It also made sense he wanted take a closer look into my history, as sordid as it might have once been. Not that I broke the law or anything, but I did tend to get around when it came to the women. Never mind the occasional drunken rowdiness of my earlier adult years. And since I had been let in on the fact he had feelings for Savvy as well—unintentionally, of course—it was highly possible he was trying to weed me out of the list of suitors she had gained with the three of us.
Me, Jacob, and him.
I was a threat to his plans. Though he was personable and polite, he only tolerated me. And that made me want to look deeper into the events of my life as of late so I could figure out if I had more to do with my sister’s disappearance than I initially thought.
I had been in the process of revamping my life for the last several months, making positive changes, and moves like that took a considerable amount of withdrawing from the public’s eye. Did my lifestyle change piss someone off? Possibly. Was this some twisted vendetta against a woman I had scorned in the past? Eh. Maybe. Oh! Did I have a stalker? As exciting as having someone obsessed with me was in the moment, in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter. I did what I did so I could clean up and become a better man for Savvy. So, if I did have a stalker, they seriously needed to re-evaluate their priorities. Big time.
Savvy was all I wanted. All I cared about, apart from my sister. And if anything were to happen to her, I didn’t know what I would do. I certainly didn’t think I would survive without the woman I loved, especially if I lost my sister as well.
But I digressed. I wasn’t so sure a stalker was the case, to be honest, but anything was possible. Especially when it came to this anonymous group. They were changing their tactics, and I found myself square in the middle of their radar somehow. Hell, I still struggled to figure out who I might have had a falling out with recently and would take my sister from me just to prove a point.
Liam was right. Something wasn’t adding up here. But as long as they continued being concerned I was a target or somehow connected with my sister’s disappearance, Jacob and Liam weren’t going to let me out of their sight. Not for a single second. So even though I wanted to help, I would have a tail, or I would be stopped from leaving in the first place. I didn’t have a choice but to sit around and wait.
Liam leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling while I twirled my fingers, wishing for anything to change the situation. I hated the silence when things were tense. It was uncomfortable and made me antsy. It was so quiet, the clock from Savvy’s kitchen ticked off the seconds that passed by in the utmost, annoying way.
The noise grated on my ears with the three ticks and a sound that was similar to grinding gears, followed by three more ticks. The rhythm repeated, and with the silence, every second the clock made its erroneous motions, it hit my ears louder.
I couldn’t take the silence anymore. I had to do something other than just sit still and wait.
“Why are we here again?” I asked. “Isn’t there something else we could be doing?”
Liam turned his head, settling his gaze on me. “Because Jacob and Savannah are going to meet us here. And we’re doing all that we can do for right now.”
I nodded. “When will they be here?”
“Whenever they decide to walk through the door,” he said. His words came out strained. He must have been irritated with my insistence on interrupting his precious thinking time. “Which should be whenever they are done searching for that heirloom of Avery’s.”
